With schools closed and public outings minimized, kids are going to have more "free time" on their little hands. And it's important to keep those little hands – and big minds – active, both for their sake and for parents' serenity.
Thus, here is a list of 100 things to do with kids at home or outdoors (but not in populated spaces) that will hopefully prevent the stir crazies.
- Go on a virtual museum tour here
- Watch a live stream of the New York Met here
- Doodle with Mo Willems here.
- Get crafty in the kitchen here
- Embark on enrichment activities here
- Study up with the Scholastic digital hub here
- Take an adventure walk around the backyard or neighborhood
- Write haikus
- Build paper airplanes
- Learn to solve the Rubik's cube via YouTube
- Find three objects and learn to juggle
- Have a spa day (DIY mani/pedis, face masks, etc.)
- Build a fort with pillows and blankets
- Do Pinterest projects
- Dress up in old Halloween costumes and make a crazy movie or mini skits
- Make a music video
- Check out ChessKid.com (free site where kids play each other in chess)
- Paint a room together
- Video chat with friends
- Walk around the outdoor Lyndon Sculpture Garden for free (while keeping a distance of six feet from others)
- Plant seedlings for the summer garden
- Do some Mad Libs (Search "free Mad Libs" and print out)
- Sing karaoke
- Play Milwaukee Monopoly
- Learn how to Geocache here
- Get the Korg Kaossilator app free for a limited time and create the next electronic music hit
- Decorate a cardboard box to make a fort, rocketship, pirate ship
- Dress up as your favorite characters
- Create a LEGO city
- Make your own crossword puzzle (or sudoku, puzzle, logic problem, etc)
- Listen to podcasts
- Make your own podcast
- Randomly call out countries and then look on a map or globe to see where they are located
- Clean your room – including under your bed
- Take an online art lesson here
- Do chores for neighbors and the elderly
- Put all the toys you don't play with in a box for other kids to enjoy
- Create a dance, or watch a music video and learn that dance
- Play balloon tennis or any balloon game
- Make a mini golf course
- Give your stuffed animals a Lysol bath
- Learn about different species of dogs or cats or bugs via Google
- Read books out loud to each other
- Play 20 questions
- Make slime, here's a recipe
- Play World Geo Bingo, get it here
- Have a family meeting and make a list of places you want to travel together – near and far – in the future
- Create a scavenger hunt either indoors or out
- Write a letter to a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend
- Make fortune tellers here
- Learn kid-friendly Spanish for free here
- Rearrange your bedrooms
- Play Hangman
- Learn to make balloon animals with this kit
- Find all the change in the house, count it and decide where to donate it
- Take a bubble bath or an "art bath" with shaving cream and bath crayons, etc.
- Learn a classic card game: solitaire, crazy 8s, slap jack, etc.
- Pretend the living room floor is lava
- Have a family poetry reading
- Go to a beach, collect a few rocks and paint them
- Study the phases of the moon here
- Have a jumping jacks contest
- Make a list of your favorite movies and then Google each one to find out something interesting you didn't know about it
- Call a friend on the phone (rather than connect on social media)
- Learn how to hand sew
- Play duck, duck, goose
- Lay down a clean sheet in an open room, set a popcorn popper on top of it without a lid and pop the corn (parents must be present)
- Blow bubbles
- Make zines with a single sheet of paper here
- Learn simple origami here
- Walk around the block backwards
- Tell stories about happy family memories
- Kids and parents take turns introducing each other to their favorite songs
- Learn cat's cradle here
- Make Kool- Aid play-doh with this recipe
- Visit BrainPop.com for more serious learning experiences
- Do a jigsaw puzzle
- Play Bananagrams or Boggle, both with educational qualities
- Get a magnifying glass and go on a hike here
- Teach kids domestic chores like laundry and dish washing
- Practice the lost art of cursive writing here
- Do yoga for kids here
- Pick one of the planets and find out 10 facts about it, then draw it
- Dye Easter eggs
- Watch a show on National Geographic
- Play school or bookstore
- Write raps and then perform them
- Look up knock-knock jokes online
- Read about the politician you want to vote for
- Read about the politician you don't want to vote for
- Take artsy photos on your phone around the topic "Favorite things in my home"
- Organize closets or junk drawers
- Go to Zenni.com and "try on" wild-looking glasses just for fun
- Do trust falls (adults must be present!)
- Make your own comic book
- Make a collage out of books, magazine, catalogs, recycled paper items, etc.
- Do as many sit ups as you can, followed by as many push-ups as possible
- Have a "dusting" party with loud music and finally dust all those places that never get dusted
- Learn the moonwalk here
- Mix kitchen liquids together and play alchemist (parents must be present!)
- Be bored – it leads to doing cool things we'd never think of otherwise
